Wasp Queens moving into empty bait hives

I'm not sure if other beekeepers have the same experience as I do but I just keep kicking Wasp Queens out of my empty bait hives EVERY two to three days!!! I mean one of them even managed to lay the first eggs and I do make sure to open the hives every so often! I did kill a few and have destroyed the started nests. They don't manage to build much but still they seem to LOVE my hives :(

I posted this image a while ago, showing a Yellow Jacket Queen which started building a nest in one of my empty Top Bar Hives. We sure had thousands of them last year under the roof of our cottage and the garage, they even seem to have nests in the ground :(

I can't expect to see a bee swarm move into a hive occupied with angry Wasps! So I wonder what do other beekeepers do to avoid this and what do they do with bait hives which get Wasps in?

I even had a Hornet Queen move into a nearby hollow tree just 10 meters away from my Apiary which is placed behind our cottage and those huge monsters have absolutely nothing to do so close to our bed room window! So I took my bee suit on and thick gloves and rubber shoes and an extra hat under the veil ... AND a badminton racket >:( I have lit the smoker and went into WAR!

She flew out as soon as I started smoking the entrance and escaped the racket by an inch. So I thought that she was probably just scanning this tree and didn't just yet begun to build her nest.

So I went to make some coffee and relax a bit but then I saw the very same Hornet flying into it again! So this time, instead of the smoker I used the BBQ starter tube (made of metal and used in Scandinavia) and filled it with egg crates. The huge thing started smoking a lot :) so I placed it under the tree hole making sure the smoke gets in. It was a huge hole near the ground so this was easy to erange. The Queen flew out once again but this time the badminton racket hit the target.
She fell on the ground still very much alive, so I hit her again and again but she just kept walking and buzzing with wings.
While I was attacking the Hornet Queen (I swear I never saw such huge Hornet before in my life) the BBQ starter tube went on fire !!! No more smoke only huge flame !!! AND the tree started burning from the inside since all is dry in there!!!

Me still stamping on the Queen which refuses to die (who would blame her) and with one hand trying to extinguish the flaming BBQ tube !!! (this was a funny scene I bet, but I wasn't laughing trust me).
Once she stopped moving I ran to get the water house and made sure to stick it deep into the hollow to extinguish the fire. I checked on the tree after half an hour and it didnt smoke anymore.

I then sat down and enjoyed a cup of coffee. Sorry for no pics I was just waaaayyyy too excited about all the drama that I forgot. She was THE Queen and I'm sure she would made a HUGE family near our bedroom window.

Orientation Flights

Red Pollen

After yesterday's rainy and cloudy day the Bees seem very eager to work :) It is sunny again and the temperature is 24'C. Perfect for collecting lots of pollen and nectar. But this time I've noticed Red pollen going into the hive and of course I took out my camera and hunted for the perfect shot;

I'm not sure where this red pollen comes from?

Yellow, red and orange pollen

Could this red pollen be from the Red Non-stinging Nettle maybe?

Returning home with precious nectar. Our dear ladies are very busy today :) 

Rape/Canola/Raps is the No.1 Bee Killer in Sweden

Please make sure to buy only Organic (Ekologisk) Canola Oil (Rapsolja). Canola is the No. 1 bee killer in Scandinavia but also in the rest of the world. Even though EU Parliament has voted for the ban of Neonicotinoid pesticides on crops pollinated by the bees including Canola the danger of Neonicotinoid poisoning isn't removed entirely because the Parliament failed to realise that Neonicotinoids remain in the soil for more than 1200 days and can enter crops sown in the following years. That is not all; since our farming soil is left naked the wind blows enormous amounts of soil dust to the nearby grass fields, bushes and trees! The soil dust contains Neonicotinoids which can now enter those flowering plants/bushes/trees and further poison the pollinators. 

Swedish national crop called Raps is the No.1 bee killer in Sweden. This photo is take only 2 km away from my apiary  I hope our bees will find other kinds of flowers to collect nectar and pollen from away from this plant infused with Neonicotinoids ... this is a fools hope :(

Neonicotinoid pesticides are systemic pesticides which enter all parts of the plant making it poisonous to all insects and we still don't know how they affect us humans (some studies point to cancers and infertility in humans due to Neonicotinoids). They affect Bees nervous system and the bees can't navigate back to the hive. Those who return drop in front of the hive and walk like drunk until they die.
If you see dead bees with pollen on their legs in front of your hives you can be assured they have died from pesticide poisoning. This happens when nearby crops have just been sprayed.

Neonicotinoids applied to the seeds before planting them do not kill bees this way. They work slower and hit the colonies immune system exposing them to secondary viral infections (Varroa, etc). They also affect the bees coordination within the hive. Honey Bee colony is a super organism which communicates via pheromones, vibrations, sounds, and such is greatly reduced in colonies poisoned with Neonicotinoids.

Neonicotinoids enter into the plant's nectar and pollen which bees collect and bring back into their hive feeding it to the brood. You can imagine what this means!

My local bee inspector told me that each time a local beekeeper has a farmer nearby growing non-organic Canola/Rape/Raps many bee colonies die in the winter. This can be due to Neonicotinoids affecting the insects ability to create body fats which winter bees need to survive the cold weather. Without fat these bees live much shorter and such colony is doomed.

Banning Neonicotinoids partially and only for two years is not the solution at all! They must be banned completely!!! As the member of the Danish EU Parliament Dan Jorgensen said in one interview "all pesticides should be banned".

By buying non-organic Rapeseed Oil (Rapsolja) you directly support bee killing! Please don't do this and make the change TODAY and start buying Organic Bee-friendly Rapeseed oil :) We need the bees ... all life needs bees.
Be aware and spread the awareness.
Thank you :)

Inexpensive and simple Wasp Trap for any household

Wasps are part of the ecosystem as every other creature and deserves its place in the Earth's biodiversity. On occasions Wasps can become a nuisance to us humans and to honey bee colonies we keep in our apiaries. Some years are worse than others but Wasps remain present nonetheless. I personally can't tolerate   Wasps nesting under the roof of our cottage. We had a strong nest just 1 meter from the main door last year which had to killed. So to avoid having to tangle large nests I decided to build this inexpensive wasp trap which is very simple to make. Even I can make it :) so simple it is.

Cut the top of any soda bottle with a sharp knife and push the top into the bottle so it forms a funnel.
Fill the bottle with diluted cordial or some sort of juice and add a drop or two of a unscented washing up liquid but make sure not to fill all the way to the funnel because the wasp might escape through it. Do not use Honey in the mixture or sugar syrup; this might attract the honey bees. Hang the trap on the wall or just under the roof so no rain can fall into it.

Wasp Queen trapped. The drop or two of washing up liquid removes the water tension so Wasps can't walk/float on water but rather sink into the solution and drown.

Apple Trees Blooming and Misumena vatia hunting Honeybees

The Apple Trees are blooming like mad this year :) What a marvelous spectacle  Honeybees, Bumble Bees, Wasps and myriads of other pollinating insects are gorging themselves with nectar and pollen from these beautiful blossoms.

Poetic Apple Blossom

Honeybee eagerly collecting pollen from apple blossoms

scanning the apple blossom

Misumena vatia captured a Honeybee

I was walking down the road with my dear dog Bailey and saw a Honeybee sitting still on a Dandelion flower which was very strange. Bees are usually very busy collecting nectar and pollen but not this bee, so I went down on my knees to look closer. I pushed it a bit with my finger and she moved ... she moved without moving her legs !!! So I looked even closer and saw a yellow Pea-like thing in the centre of the flower. I looked even closer and noticed that this yellow Pea has legs and a head and is holding the bee. I made a photo and found on Wikipedia what this hunter is called; Misumena vatia or Goldenrod Crab Spider which can change colors from white to yellow depending on the flower colour it uses to hunt from. Very good disguise indeed. It feed on all sorts of pollinating insects including Wasps.

Splitting my honey bee colonies

I was talking to my local bee inspector (who sold me 2 colonies this year) and he told me that its ok to do splits as soon Dandelions start to bloom and there are a few emerged Drones in the hive and the Drone cells are capped. Since Dandelion flowers are exploding all over the landscape and the hives have Drones and capped Drone Cells I decided to make splits today. This is the very first time I did splits :) The temperature today was 27'C without wind.

All 4 of our long top bar hives are now occupied with Honey Bee colonies :)

Late Spring time is Swarming time! This is the best time to increase the colony numbers in our apiaries by making splits or by catching swarms since bees are anyway planning to split. I decided to make splits since my Queens have clipped wings and can't fly (most conventional beekeepers in this area do this as swarm prevention. I'm against this brutal method) so letting them swarm and then collect them could result in the Queen being lost somewhere in front of the hive.

I've split both colonies by moving 3 combs of capped brood and 2 cobs of honey and pollen together with the old Queen into a new Top Bar Hive. This is how a typical split is done around here at this time of the season. The brood combs are placed in the middle and on each end there is one comb of honey. I made sure no swarm cups are present on those combs. The original hive got mostly uncapped brood in various stages and some capped brood too as well as unripe honey and pollen. Both colonies have 3 swarm cups build which have no eggs in it. The worker bees will move an egg into it which is maximum 3 days old to raise new Queens. The colony will realise very fast that they have no Queen in the hive since her so called Queen Pheromone is gone. Bees don't waste time and I'm sure they will start making new Queens by nightfall. 

I can see 2 swarm cups through the window on one of my hives which I can observe without disturbing the colony. Will make updates as the Queen Cups turn into Queen Cells :)

Natural swarming can be very risky as Dr. Seeley explains in his book Honeybee Democracy. Large amounts of feral swarms don't make it through their first year due to various reasons. Even splitting has its risks! The Queenless colony will raise new Queens which will emerge as Virgins meaning they must fly out of the hive to mate with local Drones. This can result in the Queen being eaten by a bird or if the day turns rainy she might fall onto the ground and chill to the point of not being able to fly again, etc ... Last year we had a very rainy and cold summer and many beekeepers reported failed Queens, Queens that never returned to the hive. In this case buying a new local mated Queen would be the best choice since that Queen can start immediately laying new eggs. Lets be reminded that worker bees live maximum 6 weeks and many will die until the new Queen start laying eggs so time is critical in this case and the nicer the weather the better results one can expect. Lets see how this goes :) I wish them well!

I have build last winter 4 more hives for making splits and catching swarms. I hope to see at least one swarm move into my bait hive :)

This log hive is also set up as a bait hive. All bait hives are primed with Lemongrass Essential Oil, Propolis and Beeswax to attract swarms.